I almost titled this post "The Best Indicator of Training Intensity!!" but if you know me, you know I rarely speak in absolutes when it comes to training. (But clickbait, right?)

Let's face it, there are still a lot of people who use sweating as an indicator of their training.

"I didn't even sweat!"
"OMG, I sweat so much, it was such a good workout!"

Yeah, it's still happening.  But if you've been in this game long enough, you know sweating has nothing to do with anything. I have clients who sweat after 2 minutes of warming up and I have clients who never sweat... like ever... even if doing a similar workout.

I was joking around with Christian the other day in the gym and I had 3 sets of 10 of something.  Jokingly I said, "I'll just do all 30 reps in a row and get them done!"

We laughed and I told a story about how some of my college athletes years ago at Buffalo used to do that.  They would see their workout with several exercises listed at 3x10 or 3x8 or even 3x5.  I'd be walking the room, coaching athletes, and always having my eye on what was going on around the room.

I'd see an athlete grab 10# dumbbells and pump out 30 straight reps, put the dumbbells up and move on to the next exercise.

"Hey, was that kinda challenging?"

"Um, I don't know, I mean I felt it by the end."

Well yeah, you did 30 straight reps.  I can't tell you the number of times I had to have the conversation about WHY it's 3 sets of 10 and not just 30 reps of a light weight.

Point of this post is to think about your rest periods. If you do a set of 10, sit there for 10-15 seconds and go again, it's probably too light of an intensity. (Yes, I've seen it. I've watched people do exactly that.)

When I'm working with my clients, I'll have them do a set and walk up and down the gym.  If they come back after 30 seconds and feel ready to go, that's fine, but then I know I can increase the intensity a bit.  I know I've reached a good weight and good intensity when after 1:30-2 minutes I say, "ready to go?" and they say, "Give me another minute."

You see, rest periods are a great indicator of your intensity.  This is especially true for big exercises like squats, bench and deadlift. If you do 8 squats and feel ready to go after 20 seconds, you're probably working too light.

There is a caveat here and one that could be an extremely long article... there is a time and place to have short rest periods for big exercises as well as accessories.  But generally speaking, you should finish a set and feel the need for at least a minute or two rest in order to complete the following sets.

What's your ideal rest period between sets?